"The eyes of all the people around my table were filled with
tears as they(Mr and Mrs Martin) paid off their last two workers," Ms Buckle
saidyesterday. "They had shared so much and I could hardly bear to watch
theirlast handshakes or listen to their final good-byes."

As the 8
August deadline looms for nearly 3,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe tomove off
their farms and surrender them to President Robert Mugabe'ssupporters, Mr
Martin has nothing much to pack for his impending eviction,except perhaps
his clothes.

He has lost all hope and inspiration to continue fighting
for his land. ComeSaturday and he and his wife are off to New Zealand to
start a new life.

Mr Martin's farm, near Marondera in Mashonaland East,
which he has owned forthe past 23 years, was occupied by President Mugabe's
militant supporterslast year and they looted everything they could lay their
hands on.

Mr Martin, 67, has lost everything he has worked for, his
farmhouse,fencing, timber plantations, farm buildings, dams, cattle,
dip-tanks,tractors, ploughs, fuel and tools. He has lost all his laying
hens, theirfeed and all the equipment in the runs. Ms Buckle said: "There
has not beenthe slightest indication from our government that they will
change theirminds and stop this catastrophic situation. Even the fact of six
millionstarving people already needing food aid will not deter
them."

White commercial farmers were ordered to stop all farming
activities on 10May. They were given 45 days from that date to vacate their
properties orrisk two-year jail terms. The deadline expires on 8 August, and
evictionsare expected to start on 10 August.

Unlike the Martins,
Cathy Buckle is defiantly waiting for the bailiffs. "Iam not going anywhere
until they throw me out," she said yesterday.

Neighbouring Mozambique has
offered white farmers fleeing Zimbabwe parcelsof land leased tax-free.
Around 20 have taken up the offer. Not 58-year-oldfarmer Collin Shandy.
Starting again is not for him, he said. "Where must Igo to? I am Zimbabwean
and the only difference is that I am not black..

"I have farmed for 40
years. My farm is my only insurance and pension. Idon't even own another
home elsewhere except my farmhouse."

Jenni Williams, the spokes-woman for
Justice in Agriculture (JAG), a bodyfighting for the rights of farmers, said
at least 60 per cent of Zimbabwe'sremaining white farmers were prepared to
defy the order to move off theirproperties on Saturday.

"There has
been no indication that farmers would be allowed to remain ontheir
properties," Ms Williams said. "Signals are that the full wrath of thelaw
will be made to bear on all farmers who remain in their homes
afterSaturday."

It is still unclear how Mr Mugabe's government will
actually deal withfarmers who defy the deadline. A police spokes-man, Wayne
Bvudzijena, wasrecently quoted as saying the police were mobilising for mass
evictions.

The Mugabe land policies, which have meant most of his
relatives, friendsand cronies getting large, prime farms seized from the
whites at the expenseof needy landless blacks, has exacerbated the food
crisis in Zimbabwe, whichworsens by the day.

Ms Buckle and Mr Shandy
agree on the need for land redistribution inZimbabwe, where whites
controlled more than 65 per cent of the 10 millionacres of prime farming
land.

But they want a transparent and sustainable land reform process
which doesnot further impoverish Zimbabwe. If they had been offered fair
compensationfor their land, they say they would probably have surrendered it
without anysquabbles. But not in Mr Mugabe's scheme of things.

"Only
a miracle will stop this mass eviction of farmers on the 10th ofAugust" Ms
Buckle said "If you are religious I humbly ask that you pray forus, for
thousands of farm workers and their families."

ASSISTANT Police Commissioner Steven Mutamba has been
accused ofmasterminding the transfer of three officers after they unearthed
a liquorexport racket involving senior policemen.

The three
members of the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI)were transferred
after they arrested a Harare man allegedly working withsenior police
officers to smuggle liquor and basic food commodities toZambia and
Mozambique through an unregistered company.

Mutamba
denied he was linked to the smuggling racket and insisted thethree were
properly transferred.

He said: "The allegations of corruption are
false. Those guys are upto mischief. It's all malicious because the
transfers were done properly.The story is bigger than what you have
heard."

An inquiry at Harare Central Police Station's PISI
departmentyesterday confirmed that the three officers were indeed
transferred. Noreasons were given for the transfers.

It is
alleged that some time in June, information was passed to thePISI suggesting
massive economic sabotage through the smuggling of alcohol,sugar and salt to
Zambia and Mozambique by senior officers from the CIDheadquarters in
Harare.

The police officers would procure alcoholic spirits from
AfricanDistillers through Bigboy Mbofana, a sales clerk. Purchases were made
underSparks Bottle Store.

But investigations uncovered that the
outlet was not registered withthe Registrar of Companies. Investigations by
the police revealed thatSparks Bottle Store was defunct and was believed to
be owned by a seniorpolice officer unaware of the illicit
dealings.

Once the goods were obtained, they were smuggled for sale
on theZambian parallel market. The proceeds were used to purchase
foreigncurrency.

According to a manual invoice from African
Distillers number M002496,on 28 January 2002, Sparks Bottle Store purchased
spirits worth $224 055,72. A further purchase of $71 032, 90 was made under
invoice number M02899.

After receiving the information on 13 June
2002, the three transferredofficers called Mbofana to Harare Central Police
Station for questioning.

It is alleged that Mbofana briefly went
back to his offices from wherehe reportedly requested to meet the three
officers at Ximex Mall along AngwaStreet.

Once at Ximex Mall,
Mbofana allegedly offered to bribe them with $10000. The officers declined
the money. They then arrested him and took him toHarare Central Police
Station.

On arrival, they were allegedly confronted by
Superintendent Makodzaof the CID headquarters. Makodza allegedly demanded
the exhibit money beforethey were taken to Mutamba.

They were subsequently transferred on 18 June 2002 while the exhibitmoney
was returned to Mbofana, who was then released.

The three
officers were in turn accused of soliciting bribes fromMbofana.

Mbofana was supposed to appear in court under reference number HarareCentral
CR: 1271/6/2002.

Mutamba insisted the police were investigating the
illegal smugglingof liquor, but said he could not give details because he
did not know thereporter he was speaking to.

Police sources
have alleged that numerous reports were made to thepolice
implicating senior police officers of smuggling goods to Mozambique,
using policevehicles.

The said senior officers were accused of
smuggling into the countrybales of clothes from Mozambique for sale at
Mupedzanhamo Market in Mbare.

Mbofana is away on leave and is only
expected back at work on 27August.

According to Purazeni's
report dated 17 June detailing what happened,the PISI officer said Mbofana
had no right whatsoever to offer them money.

Purazeni said: "On
arrival at the police station, we advised thepolice district intelligence
officer and the police security intelligenceofficer of the arrest
(Mbofana's) while we were doing the necessarydocumentation for the
charge.

"After four minutes of our arrival I was then called to the
policedistrict intelligence's office where I was then introduced to
SuperintendentMakodza and three other police officers.

"Makodza
then requested the exhibit money implying that myself andMuvirimi were
wanted at CID headquarters by Mutamba. We then proceeded tothe CID
headquarters after handing over the $10 000 to Makodza and Mbofanawas
subsequently unhandcuffed and set free."

Christopher Tshuma, the District
Administrator (DA) for Nkayi, pulledout his pistol to stop Zanu PF youths
from assaulting him and a seniorgovernment official as they conducted a
training workshop for censusenumerators in the district.

The
youths beat them up as they demanded that they be employed asnational census
enumerators.

The beatings immediately stopped after Tshuma pulled
out the pistoland threatened to shoot the marauding youths.

The
condition of the census official, identified only as Nyoni, couldnot be
established yesterday but the DA was reported to have
escapedunscathed.

Tshuma himself yesterday confirmed there had
been disturbances, butrefused to comment further saying he was "too junior"
to talk to thenewspaper. Sources yesterday said the situation remained tense
as the youthsmilled around the Nkayi business centre all
afternoon.

The sources said the youths were recruited by war
veterans who claimedthey were being "honoured" for having campaigned for the
party during theMarch presidential election.

More than 22 000
civil servants have been recruited throughout thecountry as
enumerators.

The youths were apparently furious when they were told
that teachershad already been recruited for the exercise, which starts on 18
August andends on 27 August.

KUALA LUMPUR:
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe slammed the western media forprojecting his
country as being inhumane when it was merely taking controlof its own
natural resources to ensure equitable economic development.

"Our second
liberation (from the colonial masters) is to get back our land.You can't
just be owners of votes, and somebody else is owning your land,your
minerals, water, forests and animals," he said.

Mugabe, who attended the
just-concluded Langkawi International Dialogue (LID2002), said Zimbabwe had
been pictured in the media as a lawless stateseizing farms belonging to the
white man of Europe.

"This is the picture painted by our enemies, those
who do not want theZimbabweans to gain control of their own destiny and own
resources," hesaid.

Speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Asia Expo
Centre, here, he said theformer colonial masters, the British, now used all
kinds of pressure andpropaganda to project them as inhumane scavengers and
violators of the ruleof law.

Mugabe's ruling party, the Zanu PF
Party, won the country's election inMarch this year but the Western world
has claimed that it was rigged andthat the party supported
lawlessness.

His government also ordered white commercial farmers, who
are among thelargest producers of wheat and cornmeal, to turn over the land,
seized fromblacks during British colonial rule, back to the
government.

The 78-year old leader claimed that the British, helped by US
PresidentGeorge W. Bush, had been using the international media such as BBC
and CNNto portray Zimbabwe as a lawless nation.

He said the British
had said before the country's election that if Mugabe'sparty won, the
election would not be free and fair.

"Witnesses said the election was
marvellous, free and fair and the resultslegitimate. We have won the
election, so to them (British) it was not freeand fair," he
said.

Mugabe claimed that the British had gone around and tried to coax
themembers of the European Union to withdraw aid and impose sanctions
quietly.

"We have to demonstrate to our people that this struggle was not
about armsrule to retain the government of their own choice but a liberation
strugglefor total freedom from the British imperialism...so that you can be
your ownself in your own country," he added.

"We don't need someone
from outside to come and show us how to resolve ourdifferences," he said. -
Bernama

Mugabe lashes out at US and Britain over human rights The Irish
Examiner 06 Aug 2002

By Sean Yoong

ACCUSING
his foes of portraying Zimbabwe as "an enemy of mankind,"President Robert
Mugabe yesterday told Britain and the US not to preachhuman rights and
democracy to Zimbabwe. "We are projected as being inhuman,as savages, as
violators of the rule of law," Mugabe said in Kuala Lumpur,where he rebuked
Western powers at two separate speeches to the
businesscommunity.

"This is the picture which our enemies those
who do not want theZimbabweans to be in control of their own destiny desire
to project, so wecan be seen as an enemy of mankind," Mugabe
said.

"He is not like his predecessors," Mugabe said. "Mr
Blair is obliviousto the fact that we are resolute people."

"We refuse to be taught anything that has to do with democracy, humanrights,
transparency by the British government," Mugabe said.

Mugabe,
who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, criticised President GeorgeBush for not
endorsing elections in March that gave him another six years inoffice and
took a dig at him for the recount in Florida that put Bush in theWhite House
ahead of Al Gore.

HARARE - Zimbabwe's government has diverted US$18 million
meant to rescuscitate businesses struggling in the harsh economy to help feed
millions of people threatened by famine, a state-run daily said on Wednesday.

"We had to take such action because of the need to feed the nation in
the wake of the drought requirements," the Herald quoted an official in the
trade and industry ministry as saying.

The government had budgeted money
to revive hundreds of private companies that shut in the southern African
country's harsh economic climate, but the funds have had to be diverted to
emergency food relief.

This year's budget has already been revised to
meet the country's food needs, and last month the finance minister sought
parliament's approval for a supplementary budget to finance more food needs.

Zimbabwe has to import up to 1.8 million tonnes of corn, one of the
country's staple foods, to avert mass starvation. The government estimates that
7.8 million people face famine, including 5.4 million children.

In
addition to corn shortages, blamed on drought and disruptions on farms caused by
controversial government-backed land reforms, Zimbabwe also suffers shortages of
basic commodities including cooking oil, sugar and salt.

Grain shortages
have forced the government to reconsider its position and accept a consignment
of 20,000 tonnes of US grain, despite concerns that it might have been
genetically modified.

In June, Harare rejected a donation of maize from
the US because it was not certified as being free of any genetic manipulation.

In April, President Robert Mugabe declared a state of emergency, opening
the doors for international aid to a country which was, in the past, a regional
breadbasket.

Mail & GuardianZimbabwe clutches at straws
Zimbabwe's government has diverted
$18-million meant to rescuscitate businesses struggling in the harsh economy to
help feed millions of people threatened by famine, a state-run daily said
Wednesday.

"We had to take such action because of the need to feed the
nation in the wake of the drought requirements," the Herald quoted an
official in the trade and industry ministry as saying.

The government had
budgeted money to revive hundreds of private companies that shut in the southern
African country's harsh economic climate, but the funds have had to be diverted
to emergency food relief.

This year's budget has already been revised to
meet the country's food needs, and last month the finance minister sought
parliament's approval for a supplementary budget to finance more food
needs.

Zimbabwe has to import up to 1,8-million tons of corn, one of the
country's staple foods, to avert mass starvation. The government estimates that
7,8-million people face famine, including 5,4-million children.

In
addition to corn shortages, blamed on drought and disruptions on farms caused by
controversial government-backed land reforms, Zimbabwe also suffers shortages of
basic commodities including cooking oil, sugar and salt.

Grain shortages
have forced the government to reconsider its position and accept a consignment
of 20 000 tons of US grain, despite concerns that it might have been genetically
modified.

In June, Harare rejected a donation of maize from the US
because it was not certified as being free of any genetic
manipulation.

In April, President Robert Mugabe declared a state of
emergency, opening the doors for international aid to a country which was, in
the past, a regional breadbasket. - Sapa-AFP